


untitled

by valkyriered



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Touch-Starved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 10:56:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13433247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valkyriered/pseuds/valkyriered
Summary: Riku gets a haircut post-KH2.





	untitled

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Demenior](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demenior/gifts).



> Written for the beautiful Demenior. The idea of Riku having bad hair, being touch-starved, etc. all came from her. I just translated it into a fic bc i love her. <3  
> This fic is painfully un-edited, feel free to tell me if you notice any obnoxious spelling errors.

“How did you let it get this bad?” Kairi asks quietly, carefully carding her fingers through Riku’s hair. It’s a mess— what she once remembered as silky and soft is now tangled and matted. It had gotten too long, and the ends had become scraggly and dry. It looked like he hadn’t washed it in ages, like he hadn’t cut it in longer. He always wore his hair long, but she could tell that this wasn’t intentional.  
  
Riku, for his part, seemed to actually be enjoying himself. He’s splayed out on the floor in front of her, his legs stretched out on the ground (and they’d gotten long, when had he become so _tall_ ), letting his head loll back against her knee. He doesn’t respond at first, and Kairi’s not sure if he heard her. And then—  
  
“I didn’t mean to.”  
  
He sounds ashamed. Kairi pauses. “It’s not a big deal.” She murmurs. “It’s just going to be a little shorter than we thought.”  
  
“That’s fine.” He says. “I don’t care.” And he really doesn’t seem to, with the way he’s nuzzling against her palm. She takes the hint and goes back to stroking his hair, and he melts back against her legs. Sora is in the kitchen, hunting down the scissors so Kairi can cut his hair. She’s a little surprised he’d even let her, but somewhere along the line Riku’s vanity melted away. When she’d suggested going to a professional, he’d given her such an offended look that she hadn’t pushed it.  
  
So instead they’re sitting in the dining room, Riku pressed against her legs while she sits on a chair behind him.  
  
“Found them!” Sora calls from the kitchen, and by the time it occurs to Kairi to tell him not to run with scissors, he’s already skidded into the dining room, brandishing them like a sword.  
  
“Sora!” She chides instead, but he just shrugs and hands her the scissors so he can sit down next to Riku. She feels Riku scoot a little bit so he can be closer to Sora, not enough to make it obvious, but just enough that Kairi can feel it. She gently rubs her knuckles against Riku’s neck.  
  
“Alright, I’m gonna start.” They’d already brushed through it earlier, doing their best to get rid of the worst of the tangles, but so much of Riku’s hair had come out with even gentle use of her hairbrush that Kairi was hesitant to do anymore. “It’s probably from stress.” Riku had said, pulling the hair out of the brush and dropping it in the trash.  
  
Hence, the scissors.  
  
Kairi starts slow, cutting off an inch or so, strand by strand, but it’s taking too long. Riku has too much hair, it was too tangled. She starts going after chunks at a time, hacking through the matts. The scissors are dull from repeated use, and so it takes a few tries to get out the larger clumps. Riku stays still for all of it, not even brushing the strands of hair off his shoulders. She falls into a rhythm, sawing through the matts, brushing them off Riku’s shoulders, moving onto the next-largest clump.  
  
She’s idly aware of when Sora takes Riku’s hand and moves a little closer, but continues her work. It’s the sniffling that makes her pause, and put down her scissors, and look at the two of them.  
  
Riku has his eyes closed, but Sora—  
  
Sora has his face screwed up like he’s holding back tears, although there are a few dripping down his cheeks and dropping from his chin. He has Riku’s hand clasped firmly in both of his, holding on tightly.  
  
“Sora, what’s wrong?” Kairi asks quietly. She feels Riku shift from where he’s leaning against her knees.  
  
“I’m s-sorry.”  
  
“Ah, Sora…” Riku laments, rubbing his thumb against Sora’s hand. “It’s just hair.”  
  
Sora shakes his head, turns it to wipes his eyes on his shoulder so he doesn’t have to let go of Riku’s hand.  
  
“C’mon, buddy. It’s nothing to cry about.”  
  
Sora takes in a breath that sounds more like a sob. “Y-you were all alone.”  
  
Riku laughs quietly. “Don’t cry for me, okay? I’m here. I’m fine.”  
  
“It must have been scary.” Sora says, blinking rapidly so he can look up at Riku. His eyes always look so blue when he cries.  
  
“I’m fine.” Riku repeats. “We’re all okay.” He says, and Kairi doesn’t miss the way he dodges the statement entirely, or the way that he’s looked away to avoid meeting Sora’s eyes. Even now, after so long blindfolded, Riku’s gotten used to looking away.  
  
It makes her heart ache for him. Sora must be feeling it too, because he scoots closer so he can sit shoulder-to-shoulder with Riku, holding his hand in his lap. Riku presses back against him, briefly nuzzles against Sora’s throat even though it must make his neck hurt to lean down like that. Riku stays like that for a moment before straightening up. She sees the way he wants so desperately to be touched, the way he pulls himself back despite it.  
  
“Kairi, you wanna finish up?” He asks, his throat tight like he might also cry. Sora snuggles a little closer, and squeezes his hand.  
  
“Yeah.” She says softly. She leans down and brushes a kiss against the crown of Riku’s head. “I’m glad you’re back.” She murmurs against his hair. “I’m glad you’re safe.”  
  
“Yeah.” Riku’s voice cracks.  
  
They finish the rest of the haircut in relative silence, except for the quiet snipping of the blades, and the sound of his hair hitting the floor. They’re past the worst of it— Riku’s matts are gone, just leaving the feathery, soft silver that Kairi remembers from when they were kids. When Riku’s shoulders start shaking, and his breathing starts sounding wet, she puts the scissors aside and strokes his hair for a while. They all know better than to comment on it. Riku hates crying, hates it even more when they can see, but somehow he’s trusting both of them to be there, and see, and not say anything.  
  
They know he’s holding it back. He always holds it back until they can’t see him, until it’s dark or they’re all in bed and he can bury his face in a pillow while they rub his back or hold him. Being alone for so long left too many marks on him, like the way he’s so desperate to be touched, or the way it gets hard for him to say the things he needs. Speaking is a constant struggle, and he gets frustrated when it comes to trying to put thoughts or feelings into words after having spent so long without having to.  
  
She waits until he’s done before leaning forward to kiss him again. “I just need to do the bangs and even it out, so you’re going to need to turn around to face me.”  
  
“Alright.”  
  
When he turns around, her breath catches in her throat. He looks so much like he used to. Of course— of course he’d grown up— his face had gotten longer, his jaw more defined— but the hair looks so familiar. Looks the way it used to.  
  
Sora gets up with a mumbled excuse about making tea, and she hears him clattering around in the kitchen. Kairi reaches forward to do his bangs, and gently cups his chin to tilt his head to face her.  
  
He doesn’t move.  
  
“Riku, I need you to look at me.”  
  
“Give me a minute.” He murmurs.  
  
“Okay.”  
  
“It’s just—“ He inhales sharply. “It’s a lot more than I expected.”  
  
“I’m sorry.”  
  
“It’s not your fault.” He clears his throat. “Alright.”  
  
He lets her tilt his head back this time, keeping his eyes shut so the bits of hair won’t fall in his eyes. It’s going to be harder for him to hide behind his bangs now. When she finishes, she blows gently on his face to clear out all the hair. He laughs and opens his eyes to smile up at her, and for a brief moment it’s like the past few years never happened. Kairi reaches down to tuck a lock of hair behind his ear. She wants so badly to go back.  
  
Sora brings them both tea with too much sugar in it, but they drink it anyway, snuggled together on the couch and admiring Riku’s new hair. Kairi brings him a mirror, and he spends the better part of a minute turning his head back and forth, looking in shock. She can’t remember the last time he spent that long looking at his reflection, but they don’t tease him for it. When he’s done he puts the mirror down and murmurs a ‘thank you’, tells Kairi that it looks good.  
  
“How does it feel?” Sora asks, when Riku runs his hand through his hair.  
  
“…Lighter.”  
  
Nobody’s surprised when Riku gets grabby later that night, after the lights are out and it’s safe and dark. He pulls at both of them, his breath coming in quick little gasps as he runs his hands over them, pulling them closer until he’s pressed between them both. It would be hard to tell the difference between when Riku’s feeling upset and when he’s horny, except for the way he touches them. When he’s worked up, it’s slow and sinuous. Right now, his hands are shaking. He feels unsteady, like he’s going to fall apart.  
  
They help him take off his shirt so he can feel them both against him, and they wrap him between them both. When he starts crying, they tighten their hold on him, and for any other person it might be crushing, but for Riku it’s barely enough. There’s no point in asking him what’s wrong, or what they can to do make it better. When he’s upset he can barely figure out what he wants to say, much less how to say it.  
  
So they rock him between them, and Kairi kisses his forehead, and Sora rubs his back, and they do their best to make it better.  
  
There’s no going back. All they can do is try to move forward.


End file.
